


Set In Stone

by Awesome_Sauce432



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Books, Caleb Just Wants To Talk To Someone About Books, Could Be Canon, Could Be Interpreted As Shippy If You Squint, Fluff, Gen, Winter's Crest Gift Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 05:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17135933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awesome_Sauce432/pseuds/Awesome_Sauce432
Summary: On a quiet day, Caleb finds out that Molly hasn't read a book in a while. He hasn't read one at all, actually. This is unacceptable. Luckily, there's a bookstore in town, and Caleb isn't afraid to keep looking until he finds the perfect one for Molly.A secret santa gift for the Winter's Crest Gift Exchange!





	Set In Stone

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for Avi, or gayasfuck-universe (love the name btw). I haven't actually watched campaign 1 so I decided to do some fluffy book stuff with Caleb and Molly. It's not overtly shippy but you could probably interpret it that way. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also I'm actually posting this at 11pm Christmas Eve my time, but I'm doing it now because I know I will be very busy tomorrow and I'll probably forget. I'm not sure what timezone you live in so I don't know if it'll actually be Christmas when you read this, but Merry Christmas anyway!!!!

Since joining the Mighty Nein, Caleb had found that having some time to himself was difficult. When it had been just him and Nott, it had been easy. Nott would often slip away when something caught her eye, and with two people (and one fey cat), it didn’t feel so crowded anyway. 

 

But now, with at least six people in the group at any one time, there were a lot more people around at any given moment, and being alone was something he had to actively work for. 

 

Not impossible, though, thankfully for his own sanity. It just took a bit of careful organisation. 

 

So when most of the group decided to go shopping for food and other supplies, Caleb declined to go with them. For once he had enough paper and ink that he didn’t feel the need to restock, and he might as well watch the cart to make sure no one robbed it, no? 

 

It was an excuse and everyone probably saw through it immediately, but they accepted it anyway, and Caleb was ready for settle in for at least a few hours of peace and quiet where he could just read, Frumpkin purring at his side and nothing to distract him. 

 

Molly decided to stay as well, reasoning that he needed to sew up his coat, since it had been torn nearly to shreds in the last battle. Jester had offered to fix it up herself with her magic, but Molly had declined with a wink, saying he preferred to do it himself. The only magic that could touch his coat was his own, apparently. 

 

Caleb might’ve preferred to be fully alone, but this was fine too. Molly sat on one bed in the room with his coat, Caleb sat on the other with his books. It was quiet and peaceful, the only sounds being the turning of pages and the rustling of fabric. 

 

He went through his spellbook, making sure all of the pages were undamaged and all the spells complete - when one was in as many fights as he was, he had to be careful - before pulling out a book about the particulars of water magic. Not his area of expertise, but that was exactly why he had a book about it. If he knew how the enemy’s magic worked, he could counteract it in an instant. 

 

He lost himself in the pages, resting the book on his lap with one hand turning the pages and the other gently and rhythmically stroking Frumpkin, who was nestled at his side, taking a nap. He didn’t really need to, familiars didn’t get tired the same way regular animals and creatures did, but he seemed to enjoy it anyway. Perhaps he found it relaxing. 

 

“What are you reading?” Caleb glanced up, seeing Molly looking at him curiously from the other bed. The coat seemed fully repaired, all rips and tears sewed up so finely one would think Jester had mended it herself with magic. 

 

“Pardon?” Caleb asked, having only caught the last few syllables of Molly’s question, he’d been so absorbed in his reading.

 

“I just asked what you were reading. It must be good, that’s the fourth time I’ve asked.” Molly smiled, pulling his coat on and tugging it strategically, testing his sewing skills. Satisfied, he nodded, before looking back at Caleb.

 

“Oh.” Caleb said. “It is about water magic.” 

 

“Like how Fjord vomits up seawater?” Molly asked, tilting his head. 

 

“No. That is not normal magic.” Caleb said, shaking his head and pausing. Part of him wanted to go back to his reading, but Molly was still looking at him, seemingly under the impression that they were now in a conversation. “Ah… I wonder if some of your magic would be in books.”

 

“My magic?” Molly’s grin widened and he lifted up a hand, looking down at it. “Now that would be nice. I might actually read a book if it could tell me how  _ my  _ magic worked.” 

 

“You do not read much?” 

 

“As far as I can remember, the most I’ve read is the sign of the circus I worked at.” Molly deadpanned. 

 

For a split second, Caleb was horrified, before remembering Molly’s circumstances. Okay, so perhaps he was in a situation that could potentially result in one not reading a lot. Still, the idea of it was deeply unsettling.

 

“Do you ever want to read?”

 

Molly shrugged. “I’m not real good at it. I can  _ do  _ it, but it’s such a hassle. Signs are annoying enough, books would just be a nightmare.” 

 

Caleb stared for a moment. He was used to people who weren’t big readers. After all, Beau had spoken up about her distaste for literary works on numerous occasions, but Caleb could deal with that. But Molly was different. He wasn’t like Beau, whose dislike of books probably stemmed less from books themselves and more from the fact that reading them would require her to sit still for longer than two minutes at a time and be quiet, which had probably built up over her lifetime.

 

Molly however, had just two years of experience. He was not set in stone yet. 

 

At that realisation, Caleb perked up. 

 

“Perhaps you have just not found the perfect book yet. There are many short ones, you know.” He said. Molly blinked, but seemed to consider it.

 

“I suppose.” He said, shrugging. 

 

“Would you be willing to try? I saw a bookstore when we arrived.” Caleb packed away his own books. While he loved them, they were not beginners books. He’d have to find something different for Molly, which required a bookstore or a library, but he hadn’t seen a library in this town.

 

Molly seemed amused at the very least, and slightly curious. “Does that mean we’re taking a trip into town after all?” 

 

Caleb just nodded, adjusting his scarf and patting Frumpkin on the head, waking him up. The cat stretched before nimbly jumping off the bed, curling around Caleb’s legs for a moment before Caleb snapped his fingers and he vanished, reappearing around his shoulders. 

 

The two of them (three including Frumpkin) left the inn. Caleb doubted the others would return anytime soon, but even if they did, he would probably be alerted by either Jester or Nott sending a message to find out where they were. They probably wouldn’t worry unless they didn’t return by nightfall, but just to be safe, Caleb wrote out a small note to leave on the bed anyway, explaining that they had gone to a bookstore and didn’t plan to be gone for very long. 

 

With that sorted, Caleb felt tiny amounts of excitement beginning to rise within him. It wasn’t often there was someone so uninitiated to books that he could talk to, someone he could try and introduce to the wonderful world of literature. He had a feeling Molly probably wouldn’t be interested in all of the books about science and magic that he liked so much (unless he did somehow find one that had information on Molly’s own peculiar brand of magic, but Caleb couldn’t remember seeing anything like that in any of the books he’d read) but that was alright. There were plenty of genres he might enjoy. 

 

As they walked through the streets, Caleb decided to get a head start on figuring it out. 

 

“Is there anything you would like to read about?” He asked, scanning the street to make sure he spotted the bookstore as quickly as possible.

 

Molly hmmed for a few moments, a wry smile on his face but seeming to put actual thought into it. “I’m not sure. Aren’t books usually full of boring academic things?”

 

“Some are, yes, but not all.” Caleb said. “There are storybooks and legends and cookbooks and fantasies.”

 

“And smut.” Molly said, one eyebrow raised.

 

“Yes. Lots of that.” Caleb said, silently hoping Molly didn’t want to read one of those. He didn’t have a problem with it, but it might be rather awkward discussing it with Molly. 

 

“Well, I think I’ll leave it up to you.” Molly said. “As long as it’s not boring.” 

 

“So no academic papers on the relationship between evocation and transmutation spells?” Caleb asked. Molly made a face. “I am joking.”

 

“Gods, I would hope so.” Molly said, rolling his eyes but settling back into a smile. “I expect at least one dragon.” 

 

“I will keep that in mind.” Caleb tried to think about stories he’d read that contained dragons in them. Probably something on the more fiction side of things. Or perhaps tales of legendary dragon hunters… 

 

Trying to think of something kept his mind occupied until they finally reached the bookstore, a fairly small store but clean and well taken care of. Inside Caleb was hit with the sweet smells of paper and ink, mixed with some incense that was burning somewhere on the front desk.

 

“Hello there!” The storekeeper, a wrinkly, fair-skinned man with curly greyish-brown hair waved at them from behind the desk, an open book held in his other hand. “Can I help you with anything?” 

 

“Yes, I am looking for a book with dragons in it.” Caleb said. “One that is rather short, and entertaining.” 

 

“Dragons eh…” The man stroked his chin, slipping a bookmark into the book before resting it down and walking around the counter. “Well, I don’t quite have a section dedicated to dragons, but I’ll see what I can find.” 

 

Normally, Caleb would spent time in bookstores perusing the shelves himself at his own pace, taking a look at anything that interested him. But this time he followed the storekeeper along with Molly, holding possible options as the man pulled them out from shelves.

 

“Here we are.” The storekeeper said, placing a final book atop the rather precarious pile Caleb was now holding. After a few moments, Molly took half of them, eyeing some of them suspiciously.

 

“Now what?” He asked.

 

“We will have a look through them.” Caleb said. “If we find one you like, I can buy it.” 

 

“You don’t have to buy a book for me.” Molly said.

 

“If I buy it and then you end up not liking it later, I can have it.” Caleb said, very seriously. That was definitely the reason. Purely pragmatism. Nothing else. 

 

Molly eyed him for a moment, before looking back at the books. “We’d better get to sorting then.”

 

“Let me know once you make a decision!” The storekeeper said cheerfully, before tottering back off to the counter. 

 

Caleb and Molly found a corner of the store to sit in, settling the piles of books around them on one side. Caleb picked up each book and read out the title and blurb, before glancing to Molly to gauge his reaction. 

 

“ _ A Summer’s Kiss.  _ I think it is a love story. Except they are both dragon-hunting knights.” Caleb said, squinting slightly at the very romantic front cover before looking at the blurb, which included a violent excerpt detailing one of the protagonists decapitating a dragon.

 

“Oooh, I like the sound of that.” Molly said, plucking the book from Caleb’s hands and putting it in a ‘maybe’ pile. 

 

They went through all the books in that fashion, which ranged from more love stories involving dragons, to more academic-sounding studies of dragons written by people who may or may not have been insane, since they had willingly travelled to dragon territory for upwards of three months to study the things and made it back alive. Molly automatically discarded any books that were longer than a few hundred pages, citing the likelihood that it would take him a millenia to finish one of them. 

 

Caleb was determined to find the perfect book for him, one that would hopefully spark more of an interest in literature. Precious few of the Mighty Nein enjoyed reading over any other hobby, and it had been a while since he had had someone to discuss books with. Jester did, but her kind of literature was very smutty and very frivolous, and she was  _ not  _ afraid to go into detail. Great detail. 

 

Nott often let Caleb talk to her about books, but he knew she wasn’t particularly interested in them herself. He had never tried broaching the subject with Yasha or Fjord, and while Beau enjoyed learning information, she preferred to find it through gossip and interrogations rather than through a book. Which left just Molly, who he had assumed to be just as disinterested as the others.

 

Finally, they narrowed down all the books to  _ A Summer’s Kiss _ , which clocked in at a short (for Caleb) two hundred or so pages, but was apparently just the first of a series. They decided to just get the one for now, though. 

 

Caleb paid for the book before passing it over to Molly, who had maintained a rather coy smile during the entire endeavour, seeming slightly more amused than excited. 

 

“There.” Caleb said once they made it back to the privacy of their room. The book in Molly’s hand, Caleb sat down on his bed, watching and waiting expectantly for Molly to sit down on the opposite bed and start reading. “When you’re done you can tell me what you think.”

 

“Alright then. It might be a while, though.” Molly said, flashing him a grin as he sat down. “But I’ll do it for you, Mr Caleb.” 

 

Still feeling a slight thrill from the whole venture, Caleb leant back against the wall, pulling his own books out again to read, Frumpkin jumping up on the bed and curling on his lap. Caleb intended to finish off his book while Molly read, but found himself glancing up every few seconds, trying to gauge Molly’s thoughts based on his facial expressions.

 

“I know I’m gorgeous, but you don’t have to keep an eye on me.” Molly said after a few minutes, still on the first page. 

 

“Oh. Right.” Caleb said, hunching over and staring down at his own book. Still, he could barely focus on a word of his own reading, too busy wondering what Molly was thinking. Did he like it? Were the words too small?

 

He managed not to look up again, even though his reading speed was far slower than normal. Frumpkin purred in his lap, a pleasant distraction and something for him to fuss over while Molly read.

 

Eventually, after about ten minutes, Molly let out a frustrated sigh, and Caleb couldn’t resist, looking up again to see he had turned maybe two pages in that time.

 

“Is something wrong?” Caleb asked, disappointment bleeding into his voice. 

 

Molly sighed again, looking down at the book. “I’m sorry Caleb, but this is just so boring. Sitting here, quietly, I think my brain is going to explode.” 

 

Caleb was certain his face fell, because Molly looked down at the book, frowning. That was no good. But Caleb didn’t want to give up yet. There had to be a way for Molly to find this fun, but how? It was true, he wasn’t one to sit quietly and stare at words for hours on end, or even for a few minutes. 

 

Molly liked to move, he liked to talk, he liked to tell stories. He liked to tell ghost stories over the campfire, and then sneak up on everyone later that night to see how high he could make them jump. He liked to involve other people. But how could he do that with books?

 

Caleb thought for a moment, frowning. Then, an idea popped into his head. 

 

“Perhaps you could read it aloud.” He said. “You can tell the story to me, and I will listen.” 

 

Molly looked at him, one eyebrow raised but not seeming unenthused by the idea. 

 

“It would be very slow.” He said, his tail flicking around. “I can only tell the story as fast as I can read it.”

 

“You don’t have to follow the story exactly.” Caleb said, stroking Frumpkin and feeling hopeful that perhaps this would work out. “And I don’t mind.” 

 

“Hmm.” Molly looked down at the book again, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “It  _ does  _ seem like a story that could be improved by my talents.”

 

Caleb smiled as well, a little smaller, a little shakier, but genuine. “I think any story could be improved if you tell it.” 

 

Molly’s smile widened into what could only be called a beaming grin, and he cracked open the book again, back to the very first page. “Well then, I can’t let you down.” 

 

He cleared his throat, narrowing his eyes at the pages before starting to read aloud, his voice strong and filled with confidence, his eyes gleaming with the promise that if he didn’t like something in the story, he wasn’t afraid to change it to something more his liking. 

 

“Once upon a time - what a lame ass way to start a story - in the distant lands of Tal’Dorei, millenia before our time, there was a kingdom ravaged by dragons.” Molly focused on the pages, and Caleb focused on Molly, his hands stroking Frumpkins fur and a smile on his face. “Bold and brave men and women from across the land trained to slay these beasts and bring safety to their families. Two of these men, Keenal and Draynik, were bitter rivals, determined to slay more dragons than the other…”

 

It was slow progress, just like how Molly had warned. But he powered through, refusing assistance if he came across a word that was spelt horribly different to how it was pronounced, and injecting every sentence with passion and allure, waggling his eyebrows up at Caleb whenever Keenal and Draynik said or did something that could possibly be construed as flirty or sexual tension. 

 

Time seemed to pass so much more quickly than it did before, Caleb enraptured by the way Molly spun the tale, adding in extra lines of dialogue, giving each character their own separate voice, and keeping up a running commentary even as he continued to tell the story. 

 

Before he knew it there was a knock on the door, and Molly paused mid-sentence, both of them glancing towards it before looking at the window, surprised to see the sky a mixture of reds and pinks, the sunset already well-underway. 

 

After a moment with neither of them opening the door, it was flung open anyway, and Jester was there, looking between both of them, Caleb sitting cross-legged on the edge of his bed - he hadn’t even noticed he’d shifted, leaning forwards eagerly in anticipation for the next part of the story - and Molly on the other bed, an open book in his hand.

 

“What have you two been doing?” She asked, looking at Caleb, then Molly, then Caleb again. 

 

“I’ve been reading a story!” Molly said enthusiastically, showing Jester the front cover. “Caleb here bought me a book.”

 

“Ooh, what’s it about?” Jester asked, bounding into the room and kneeling on Molly’s bed. Glancing at the doorway Caleb could see a few of the others hanging around, seeming vaguely interested in the conversation but mostly just giving him a brief wave before moving on to their own rooms. 

 

“Two dragon-killing knights falling in love and killing dragons.” Molly said smugly. “The sexual tension is  _ unreal _ .”

 

Jester giggled, before lighting up. “You should keep going! I want to listen too!” 

 

“Hang on, what are we listening to?” Fjord poked his head in, one eyebrow raised. 

 

“Molly’s telling a story about gay dragon-killing knights!” Jester said. Fjord blinked, looking at all three of them in turn. 

 

“How gay is it?” Beau called from somewhere in the hallway.

 

“Extremely!” Molly shouted back. 

 

“Nice.” 

 

“Does anyone else want to listen? I’m not starting from the start or anything.” Molly said. “It took me far too long just to get to this point.” 

 

Most of the others weren’t too interested in the story, though Nott came in and sat next to Caleb, giving him a brief synopsis of what had happened on the shopping trip (not a lot), while Molly told Jester the gist of what had happened in the story thus far. 

 

When Molly started reading again, Caleb leaned back, listening with a smile on his face as Molly’s pace slowly increased, his voice growing even more confident, the tale becoming grander with every sentence. They didn’t even get close to finishing the book that night, eventually venturing downstairs to join the others for dinner with promises of finishing it later.

 

Jester and Nott ran ahead, and Molly came up to Caleb, slapping him lightly on the shoulder and passing him the book.

 

“You hold onto it for now. None of my pockets are big enough.” Molly said, still grinning widely. “And congratulations. You got me to read something longer than twenty words all in one go.” 

 

“And you enjoyed it?” Caleb asked, standing up and accepting the book, tucking it into a safe corner where it would be protected, held close until it was needed again. 

 

“I did. Never thought I’d say this, but books aren’t that bad.” Molly said, flashing him one final toothy grin before sweeping out of the room, his coat fluttering behind him. 

 

Caleb followed, a satisfied smile on his face. A very successful day, in his opinion. Very successful indeed. 


End file.
